# 46
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“Diana's gone too, but you're not going?”
Nicholas looked puzzled by Lucio's words.
“Are you sure you want to go?”
“If you stay too long, some words might come out.”
“What! Of course I think I came to visit a friend’s house.”
“I think we had enough to talk about on the carriage ride here.”
Nicholas shook his head, laughing at the cold expression on his face as if not even a needle would go through.
For a moment, I was wrong because he seemed more relaxed in front of his younger brothers.
Lucio was originally that kind of man.
* * *
I looked at myf in the mirror with blank eyes.
The face is still different from the photo in my memory.
“Who the hell are you, the Creator of Hell?”
Who am I to live in the mirror I see?
‘Why? …It is only visible to my eyes.'
If I describe what I see, others will call me paranoid.
But I swear to you, I've always been like this from the first moment I looked in the mirror.
And now, with shock, confusion, and even resignation, the questions were greater than the sadness.
“...I really don’t know why.”
"What?"
Diana, who was touching my head at the time, tilted her head.
I smiled bitterly, looked at Diana, and carefully opened my mouth.
“Miss, can you stop calling me beautiful in front of others?”
"no?"
Diana blinked at my words and quickly burst into tears.
“My brother said something bad, so are you angry?”
“No, no, it's not like that...”
I hesitated to speak.
After all, Diana, I only look beautiful in your eyes.
In the eyes of others, I am so insignificant.
So when you say something like that, I feel so embarrassed.
You can't say that.
As a young Diana, she can't really understand, and it's as if she blames her. …
I didn't want to say that.
I thought deeply and opened my mouth again.
“Actually, miss, this is a secret that only two people know.”
"secret?"
“Yes, no one knows that I am beautiful, there are only two people, you and me.”
Diana's eyes widened and her chest rose as if she was surprised by my words.
"Only Noona and I know? No one knows?"
My conscience pricked a little at her naive reaction, but I nodded.
“Yes, no one knows, and this is a secret. What should we do with the secret?”
“We have to protect him!”
“That's right, so you can't tell the others now?”
“Right… huh!”
Diana, who was puffing her cheeks and frowning as if she were worried, exclaimed as if she had made up her mind.
"I'll keep it a secret! Diana is a warrior, so she must protect the princess!"
“As expected, my young miss is the most beautiful in the world.”
“Hehe haha.”
Diana, who was laughing as if she was happy to hear what I said, started touching my head again.
Someone knocked on the door.
“Dinner is ready, miss.”
As soon as the maid finished speaking, Diana, who was in the chair, jumped to the floor.
Meanwhile, the maid who opened the door and quickly entered looked at the accessories hanging in front of the dressing table and the clothes I was wearing.
'Thinking about it, this is my first time here.'
Unlike how we often played like this in the Duke's Castle, this was the first time we played with dolls since we came to the capital.
The maid's gaze on me continued, to the point where I felt a little stung, until I entered the dining room.
"my dad !"
Upon entering the dining room, Diana saw Duke Elad and immediately rushed to him.
She also looked at the Duke with surprised eyes.
“And then you fall.”
Despite his rude tone, the Duke skillfully picked Diana up and placed her on his lap.
It was hard to see his face because he was always busy when he came to the capital, but it seemed nice to see him here.
Once again surprised by the emotions I felt, I looked around the table and saw that not only Aline and Lucio, but even the Duchess were sitting.
“I heard that the Duchess is hosting a banquet this evening.”
It seems that the Duke and Duchess returned early after Lucio's return.
“Now the whole family is together in one place.”
The Duchess smiled softly.
“Lucio, welcome home, you will be back at the academy soon, but make sure you get a few days of rest.”
His tone was full of love and affection for his son.
However, Lucio did not react in any way and only nodded slightly.
The Duchess smiled awkwardly at the seemingly cold response.
It was a time when I felt a strange sense of distance between the two people.
“Lucio, go to the side.”
". … Yes?"
The Duke's words must have come out of nowhere, as Lucio rarely looked embarrassed.
“Leia, come here quickly and sit down.”
Moreover, I was also surprised when someone called out to me while I was standing far away.
The Duke sat at the head of the table, the Duchess and Aline sat to his left, and Lucio sat to his right.
Diana's seat was next to Lucio.
“Diana will sit on my lap and eat, and Leah, you should be next to Diana.”
At the Duke's words, the Duchess and I glanced at Helen.
If it were normal, I would have opposed it immediately.
‘As expected, in the Duke’s house, the Duke’s word is law.’
Helen watched the situation with an expressionless face.
“Mmm, however, it has been a long time since I had a meal with my family...”
No matter how much I thought about it, it didn't seem like a good place for me.
However, the Duchess seemed happy that the head maid did not approve of this, and Aline also seemed indifferent.
Lucio just blinked, looking a little embarrassed, and stood up, looking at me and Diana alternately.
“I'll move the dishes.”
Perhaps because it was an order from the Duke, Helen began transporting the dishes herf.
Meanwhile, another kitchen maid moved my dishes from a distance, and I expected her to look at me with her usual harsh look, but unexpectedly, the maid showed no interest in me at all.
It wasn't just her.
All the maids waiting against the wall at a distance to serve him were pretending not to, looking at Lucio.
I suppressed a smile inside me when I saw the excitement and longing in my eyes that I couldn't hide.
'Well, it's the face that keeps catching my attention.'
In the past, even when dining in the Duke's castle, the maids would look at Duke Elad as if he was mesmerized.
Although their cold expressions gave off a frighteningly cold atmosphere at first glance, the two people had a very beautiful appearance.
'But I still love Diana more.'
Of all the people with silver hair and blue eyes, Diana was undoubtedly the most beautiful.
As I was looking at Diana with a happy expression, I suddenly felt eyes on me.
“Didn't you say you turned nine not long ago?”
"Yes?"
“Why didn't anything grow?”
The Duke lifted Diana lightly, placed her on the ground, and spoke again.
“I think Diana has grown up a lot.”
“Hah!”
The Duke lightly pinched Diana's frowning cheek and asked the Duchess.
“Are you taking care of her and feeding her properly?”
“I've been busy these days, so I haven't been able to take care of it often, and besides, because it eats so little, it's not growing well.”
said the Duchess with a slightly sullen expression.
Only then did I realize what they were talking about and looked down sheepishly.
Then I saw my dry wrist.
I thought I had gained a lot more weight than when I was in the orphanage, but I was still uncomfortably thin.
In fact, I knew that her cheeks, unlike Diana's, were thin and not full.
'Do I look ugly?'
Just like Lucio said, that was the time I felt a little depressed, maybe because I looked in the mirror and thought depressing thoughts.
“Noona!”
“Leah.”
As soon as I raised my head to the voice calling to me, meat popped into my mouth.
"Hey! It's me! I was going to give it to you!"
Diana shook the fork she was holding with an angry look on her face.
The Duke saw this and burst into laughter.
“Diana, you have short arms and you will never be able to defeat me.”
"Argh! I hate you, Daddy! Hing!"
Diana burst into tears, but everyone looked at the baby as if she was cute and no one tried to comfort her.
“You have to eat meat to grow up,” the Duke said proudly, and even put a lot of food on the plate in front of me.
I was confused about what to do, so I started eating slowly, unable to resist the look of Diana, who was groaning and wanting to watch me eat.
Without even imagining what kind of impact the day's events would have, I fell asleep feeling full of food for the first time in a while.
* * *
“Is this true? I can’t believe a child like her is sitting next to the young master and eating a meal!”
“I heard that the owner prepared food for her himf?”
“I can't believe it! How on earth could Little Miss not be enough... What makes her better than us!”
Early in the morning, the maids who had started work early quickly moved their mouths that had been itching since last night.
“More than that, have you seen what she's wearing?”
“Sonya said she saw her in the princess’s room putting out and choosing her clothes and accessories.”
“Oh my God, it's not just something we wait and see!”
They were blinded by jealousy and were busy talking behind people's backs, but they raised their voices as if they were completely loyal to the Duke of Elad.
“But what can maids like us do? Not only the princess, but also the Duke and the young master are wrapped around her tightly...”
“I don’t know what happened in the duchy, but everyone is completely deceived, how arrogant this child is.”
“That's right, everyone should know her true colors, how evil and cunning is she that we can't do anything wrong?”
“Even if she makes a mistake, she will be forgiven, right?”
It was a moment when I clicked my tongue and said it was obvious without even looking.
Suddenly, the eyes of those who were whispering slyly lit up.
“Just then, the great master came.”
“Yes, Lucio will never tolerate that child's mistakes.”
And the morning came.